15 Facts About Victor Papanek

Victor Josef Papanek was born in Vienna, Austria, on 22 November 1923.

Victor Papanek's mother was Helene and his father was Richard Papanek, a Jewish deli owner.

Victor Papanek was born during a time in Austria when it was a Social Democratic led state.

Victor Papanek's father died in 1935, while serving in the French Army.

In 1939, following Nazi Germany's annexation of Austria, 15-year-old Victor Papanek emigrated to the United States via Ellis Island as a refugee.

Victor Papanek studied architecture with Frank Lloyd Wright at Taliesin West in Arizona in 1949.

Victor Papanek created product designs for the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization and the World Health Organization.

Victor Papanek worked with a design team that prototyped an educational television set that could be utilized in the developing countries of Africa and produced in Japan for $9.00 per set.

Victor Papanek's designed products included a remarkable transistor radio, made from ordinary metal food cans and powered by a burning candle, that was designed to actually be produced cheaply in developing countries.

Victor Papanek received numerous awards, including a Distinguished Designer fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts in 1988.

Victor Papanek's ideas on iconoclastic design, journalism, and his unique global approach to pedagogic initiatives was a radical shift away from the existing design movements of the 1960s and 1970s.

Victor Papanek was an associate professor and the Head of the Department of Product Design in the School of Design at North Carolina State College.

Victor Papanek died on January 10,1998, in Lawrence, Kansas, aged 74.

Victor Papanek often referred to Winifred as his first wife, even though she was not, and the last name "Higginbotham" was from Winifred's first marriage.

In June 1945, Victor Papanek became a naturalized citizen of the United States.